The Story of Stuff - Brilliant, entertaining, must-see, 20-minute video/cartoon by Annie Leonard describes the problems with the status quo linear supply chain, driven by consumerism, which is unsustainable and self-destructive; and encourages a renewable, responsible, self-sustaining, cyclical approach. (StoryofStuff.com)

Waste to Energy > Recycling > The Story of Electronics - This new fabulous cartoon video by Annie Leonard exposes how electronics have been "designed for the dump", with planned obsolescence, externalizing the costs and polluting the planet. She calls for a movement to "design to last" so that devices have modular components that can be upgraded without replacing everything. (Story of Stuff; Nov. 9, 2010)

Could your trashcan solve the energy crisis? - Could vaporising waste provide a solution to two of humanity's biggest environmental problems at once? Companies around the world are trying to turn household waste into clean energy – but critics say "gasification" isn't as green as it sounds. (New Scientist; Apr. 22, 2009) cell phone directory

What To Do With All This Waste? Part 1 - A look at two industry leaders: BlueFire Ethanol and Waste Management, which runs 103 of the 425 landfill gas thermal electric operations in the U.S.

What To Do With All This Waste? Part 2 - A look at companies that are converting fecal waste from cows, horses, pigs and other livestock into energy. (Renewable Energy Access; Nov. 26, 27, 2007)

Featured

Green Energy from Waste Pressure - Langson Energy converts pressure to power utilizing their Gas Letdown GeneratorTM. Helical screw technology overcomes the high capital and operating costs of turbo-expanders and allows for contaminants and impurities to be directly handled through this Total Flow GeneratorTM. Gas pressure reduction stations where energy presently is not being utilized can now make Green Energy from Pressure. Base load green energy from pressure is available today with the Langson Gas Letdown GeneratorTM.

CPD Process Turns Trash into Diesel Fuel - Green Power Inc has developed a catalytic pressureless depolymerization (CPD) process they call "NanoDiesel" that inexpensively converts biomass and municipal waste into high quality diesel fuel, which could solve the world's energy and waste problems at the same time, without upsetting the CO2 balance.

Featured: Alt. Fuels > Waste to Energy / Plasma > GlidArc Plasma and Syngas Technology for Waste to Energy - The GlidArc process, invented at the University of Orleans, France, entails a discharge from a 10,000 volt power supply which glides continuously along diverging electrodes until this electric discharge blows off and repeats itself, creating low temperature plasma which creates syngas from the substrate in the presence of a catalyst. (PESWiki; March 27, 2010)

MagneGas Plasma Arc Flow Reactors - MagneGas Technology has been developed to process liquid wastes into a clean burning fuel known as magnegas, plus heat and other usable byproducts, said processing occurring without noise, liquid, gaseous or other pollutions. New discoveries of science involved.

Geoplasma LLC to turn dumps in electricity and roads - Company's technology converts landfills into electricity and roads, by vaporizing garbage at temperatures hotter than parts of the sun. Lightning-like plasma arcs turn trash into gas and rock-like material.

Technologies

Large-Scale Waste Recovery in Operation

Waste to Energy > Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash, but U.S. Lags - A plant in Horsholm, Denmark, that burns thousands of tons of household garbage and industrial waste, round the clock, uses new technology to convert trash into heat and electricity more cleanly. Why is Europe ahead of the U.S. in embracing clean incinerators that turn garbage into energy? (NY Times; Apr. 12, 2010)

Waste Management joins with with InEnTech to convert waste to energy - Waste gasification, a process for converting garbage into fuel and electricity without incinerating it, may be a step closer to large-scale commercialization. Industry heaviweight, Waste Management, has entered into a joint venture with InEnTec of Richland, WA to commercialize its plasma-gasification technology, forming S4 Energy Solutions. (MIT Technology Review; May 27, 2009)

What To Do With All This Waste? Part 1 - A look at two industry leaders: BlueFire Ethanol and Waste Management, which runs 103 of the 425 landfill gas thermal electric operations in the U.S.

Featured: Waste to Energy > PlasmaInEnTec's Plasma Enhanced Melter (PEM) System - Transforms virtually any type of waste material into valuable commercial products with Plasma Enhanced Melter Systems. The technology is currently being demonstrated in Richland, WA, where the PEM™ can process 25 tons of the community's waste per day. (PESWiki; Dec. 4, 2008)

Jenbacher Biogas Engine - There are presently 457 GE Jenbacher gas engines running on biogas, with a total installed capacity of 285 MW. The captured gas is used to generate 2.28 million megawatt-hours of electricity each year. The latest are installed in Limena, Italy on a cattle farm. (Ecomagination' Press Release'; June 4, 2008)

BlueFire Ethanol - BlueFire's use of the Concentrated Acid Hydrolysis Process Technology (Arkenol) positions it as the only cellulose-to-ethanol company worldwide with demonstrated production of ethanol from urban trash, rice and wheat straws, wood waste and other agricultural residues.

Waste Management Inc - runs 103 of the 425 landfill gas thermal electric operations in the U.S. Waste Management Taps Clean Power From Garbage - Waste Management Inc. said it will speed up its tapping of gas from rotting garbage to generate clean power from 60 landfills over five years. Waste Management will bring turbines to the landfills to generate more than 700 megawatts of power a year, or enough power for about 700,000 homes. (Reuters; June 28, 2007)

Changing World Technologies -Specializes in waste-to-energy, with two plants in operation. Energy and environmental service company that provides funding and management expertise; aimed at providing energy independence. Mission is to identify, introduce and commercialize environment-friendly energy technologies to the international marketplace.

Sweden is gathering methane from its landfills - 70 landfills around the country run turbines on methane; engough to power 50,000 households, refuse trucks, 60 government cars. Also, the steam from the turbines heats homes and three greenhouses. (DiscoveryChannel.ca; April 29, 2005)

Energy Products of Idaho (EPI) - World leader in atmospheric fluidized bed combustion technology with more than 81 installations world wide, and over 5 million hours of operating experience. EPI has completed energy systems operating on a wider variety of fuels than any any other fluid bed supplier in the world. Waste input: agriculture, wood, paper, livestock, fossil fuels, RDF (refuse), industrial, sewage. Output: electricity, steam/hot water, thermal fluids, hot gas for dryer.

I Never Used Dead Cats for Fuel - A German inventor said he has developed a method (KDV 500) to produce crude oil products from waste that he believes can be an answer to the soaring costs of fuel, but denied a German newspaper story implying he also used dead cats. (Reuters; Sept. 7, 2005)

Making Clean Energy from Waste - InEnTec has developed an alternative solution for waste. Rather than incinerating waste, InEnTec uses its Plasma Enhanced Melter (PEM) Systems to heat waste to very high temperatures using electrically charged gas (plasma), breaking down organic material and creating a variety of products. (Renewable Energy World; Dec. 1, 2008)

Waste-to-Energy / Plasma > StarTech Environmental Corp Plasma Tech - Startech is a publicly traded waste-to-energy plasma arc technology company. They presently have three 5 ton/day installations in operation, with a number of other plants in various stages of implementation. A 200 ton/day plant being scheduled for Panama will be the largest such plant in the world.

Nathaniel Energy - Proprietary Patented Technology, the "Thermal Combustor", is used to convert waste streams - such as tires, municipal waste, plastics, agricultural crops and waste, wood wastes, and many other forms of waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill - into energy. Funded company is fulfilling orders for installations internationally.

Hot Trash-To-Fuel Technology Gathering Steam - Got garbage? Toxic trash? Zap it with a torch three times hotter than the sun and gather the resulting gas to fuel pollution-free cars and home power units. (Reuters; Feb. 27, 2004)

The Planet Group - Planet Group waste technologies feature the advanced thermal treatment of waste, with energy recovery. BOS Gasification is modular, proven and efficient for MSW, industrial, clinical waste and much more.?

ThermoEnergy - Patented ThermoEnergy Integrated Power System (TIPS) is designed to increase efficiency of fossil fuel plants, without air emissions. Company does retrofits as well as new installs.

Coal Plant Waste to Energy

Featured: Waste to Energy > Biomass > CO2 Sequestration > Power from CO2 and Fly Ash - By eliminating CO2 emissions, producing fuel, and reclaiming valuable metals from fly ash and flue emissions, MP BioMass offers technological solutions for coal power plants and other CO2 emitters to not only keep them from being shut down but increasing their profit margin. (PESN and BeforeItsNews; January 11, 2012)

ReCyclone Transforms Garbage Into Energy - The PowerMaster ReCyclone™ acts like the wind inside a tornado, grinding garbage into tiny pieces. It takes ordinary trash and turns it into energy and reusable power sources like diesel fuel, while reducing landfill space by up the 97%. (NextEnergyNews; Aug. 14, 2008)

W2 Energy Birthing Affordable, Renewable Petrol - Imagine a gasoline and diesel source that is CO2 neutral, sulfur-free, derived from renewable sources, superior in its power performance to fossil-based fuels, and costs less than 1/7 of fossil-based fuels. The company has also built an engine to optimize use of the syngas portion of the product.

StarTech Environmental Corp Plasma Tech - Startech is the only publicly traded waste-to-energy plasma arc technology company in the world. They presently have three 5 ton/day installations in operation, with a number of other plants in various stages of implementation. A 200 ton/day plant being scheduled for Panama will be the largest such plant in the world.

MagneGas Plasma Arc Flow Reactors - MagneGas Technology has been developed to process liquid wastes into a clean burning fuel known as magnegas, plus heat and other usable byproducts, said processing occurring without noise, liquid, gaseous or other pollutions. New discoveries of science involved.

Geoplasma LLC to turn dumps in electricity and roads - Company's technology converts landfills into electricity and roads, by vaporizing garbage at temperatures hotter than parts of the sun. Lightning-like plasma arcs turn trash into gas and rock-like material.

GRC Microwave Turns Carbon Items into Oil and Gas - Frank Pringle of Global Resource Corp (GRC) has invented and refined an efficient microwave energy process to turn plastics, discarded tires, and other carbon-based substances such as shale, coal, and tar sands into gas and oil.

PyroGenesis - Technologies which use the intense energy found in plasma to convert waste into energy and useful materials, treat a range of industrial, hazardous, clinical and municipal waste streams on land. PyroGenesis has also developed a specialty system designed to treat various waste streams on board ships.

BRI Energy - Technology for co-production of ethanol and electricity from organic wastes converts any carbonaceous material into fuel and other by-products without combustion. Gasification thermally decomposes organic material followed by fermentation with anaerobic bacteria to convert more than 90% of the feedstock.

effenergy - Distributed Environmental Power Systems (DEPS) use Thermal Transformation, a hybrid of pyrolysis and gasification, to re-form solid waste into heat, steam, electricity and synthetic fuels. The T2™ system generates its own operating power, producing clean emissions and reliable energy sources.

Creating Ethanol from Trash - A new system by Integrated Environmental Technologies for converting trash into ethanol using Plasma, could reduce the amount of waste in landfills while displacing fossil fuels used to power vehicles. The technology vaporizes organic materials to synthesize a variety of fuels at costs of between 10 and 95 cents per gallon. (MIT Technology Review; January 19, 2007)

Plasco Energy Group - Uses plasma gasification to convert municipal solid waste into an energy-rich “syngas�? fuel used to generate electricity. It can process virtually any waste materials with no pollution, including those with high moisture or carbon content. Plasma Gasification has been used to safely dispose of hazardous waste for the last twenty years.

Solena Group - Plasma Gasification Vitrification process produces clean, renewable energy while addressing waste management needs, at temperatures upwards of 5,000° C, yet no combustion is involved. Solena technology can be applied on land and at sea for disposing of contaminated sludge, cleaning up coal fines, and developing sources of localized, "distributed" power.

Organic Energy - OE Gasification technology is applied in small-scale combined heat and power plants with a thermal output of 2–3 MW, low emissions and low ash. Each module can process up to 7,500 metric tons of solid waste per year, converting it into syngas, used by boilers to produce hot water, and to feed steam generators for the production of electricity.

Refinery Flaring Recovery

Animal and Crop Waste Processing

Landfill Gas

Landfill Gas to Energy: A Growing Alternative Energy Resource - Landfill gas is comprised of approximately 50-60 percent methane and 40-50 percent carbon dioxide. Waste Management (WM) has over 100 sites that have landfill gas to energy (LFGTE) facilities that collect methane and use it to fuel onsite engines or turbines, generating electricity to power surrounding homes and neighborhoods. (Treehugger; May 30, 2008)

Multi-Purpose

Scientists develop portable generator that turns trash into electricity - A group of scientists have created a portable refinery that efficiently converts food, paper and plastic trash into electricity. The machine, designed for the U.S. military, would allow soldiers in the field to convert waste into power and could have widespread civilian applications in the future. (PESN; Feb. 4, 2007)

You Don't Need Oil to Make Fuel - Many things can be converted fuel, including crops, natural gas, waste, manure, and many other carbon-based substances. Coal can be turned to gas. Article by Governor Brian Schweitzer. (Truthout; Nov. 2005)

Waste-to-Energy > TCP - Turning Waste into Oil - Two facilities are in operation which can take any material containing carbon (which is anything which has ever lived) and transmute it into a golden oil in just two hours. (American Energy Independence 2025; Nov. 2005)

Agripower - Power From Trash - A company called AgriPower will begin production next year of a movable power generator fueled by a wide range of waste products, from walnut shells to discarded tires. (CNET; June 22, 2007)

University of Warwick Converting Sewage Waste into Power - Dr. Ashok Bhattacharya and his team have cracked the problem of how to extract very pure levels of hydrogen from wet bio-matter, such as sewage or paper mill waste using a nanocrystalline catalyst. (The Hindu; May 30, 2004)

Microbial Fuel Cells

Sewage

Waste Heat Generators

Featured: Waste to Energy >Waste Heat Generators - We have established a directory of companies and technologies involved in efficiently extracting energy from waste heat. (PESWIki; Sept. 8. 2008)

Municipal Waste-to-Energy Research & Development

CPD Process Turns Trash into Diesel Fuel - Green Power Inc has developed a catalytic pressureless depolymerization (CPD) process they call "NanoDiesel" that inexpensively converts biomass and municipal waste into high quality diesel fuel, which could solve the world's energy and waste problems at the same time, without upsetting the CO2 balance.

Ecofasa turns waste to biodiesel using bacteria - The process doesn't yield that much actual fuel: just one liter of biodiesel from 10 kg of trash. The project is now in a development phase, but Ecofasa said that a commercially viable model could be ready in three to four years. (Patent) (Video Link" Spanish) (AutoBlog Green; Oct. 18, 2008)

Modern-Day Alchemy: Turning Trash Into Power - GE, which aims to make $25 billion in annual sales from green businesses by 2010, is working to adapt its gasification technology, used to burn coal more cleanly, to turn municipal waste into a relatively clean-burning gas. Fletcher estimated that GE is about five to ten years away from making garbage gasification a paying business. (Planet Ark; May 22, 2008)

Waste Water Plus Bacteria Make Hydrogen Fuel - Bacteria that feed on vinegar and waste water zapped with a shot of electricity could produce a clean hydrogen fuel to power vehicles that now run on petroleum. These microbial fuel cells can turn almost any biodegradable organic material into zero-emission hydrogen gas fuel. (PESWiki; Nov. 12, 2007)

They're Recycling Their Brain Power - An extraordinary group of retired scientists and engineers in Asheville, N.C., is working to solve the area’s environmental problems. (Parade; Oct. 31, 2004)

BioMaxx Systems Inc - Converting cellulosic biomass that is currently being abandoned or land filled into ethanol and other valuable co-products. Holds the worldwide license to a new fermentation process.

Wastewater Could Treat Itself, Power City - The energy stored in Toronto's municipal wastewater could be harnessed to run water treatment facilities and contribute power to the city grid. Studies under way. (Solar Access; Sept. 24, 2004)

Plastic to Energy in Japan - "A consortium of public and private players is planning to build poker tablesthe nation's first power plant that burns waste plastic as fuel. Plastic waste from the Tokyo Metro area will make up half the feedstock and industrial waste wil make up the balance. Plastic will be pelletized before shipment to the plant in Iwaki City in northern Fukushima prefecture. The government likes to refer to this as 'thermal recycling' so it fits in with government plans to promote incinerators with energy generation capability. They also see it as a first step toward 90% plastic 'recycling' by the next century." (GMI';' Jan. 95)

Cow manure to light up farming community - Canadian farming community receives government funds to become the country's first municipality to be electrically powered by cow manure. (Big News Network, Canada; Oct. 26, 2004)

DOJ Files Civil Action Against MagCorp for PCB Violations - Leading U.S. polluter, US Magnesium Corporation of Salt Lake City, has been on the EPA's list as the largest toxic air polluter in the country. Though it has improved, it is still significantly lacking. Local inventor said he demonstrated the successful burning of some of their emissions for energy and clean-up, but they declined to integrate the technique. (PESN; May 12, 2005)

Non-Energy Related

Free-lunch foragers - 'Freegans' are a growing subculture that has opted out of capitalism by cutting spending habits and living off consumer waste. (LA Times; Sept. 11, 2007)

Tornado in a Can - pulverizes down to micrometer powder; demonstrates an "overunity" phenomenon. (MSNBC; April 26, 2004)

Avantis - "The chemical industry is experiencing rapidly increasing feedstock and energy costs, regulatory pressures, high volatility of raw material costs, employee downsizing and customer service call center outsourcing, as well as concerns over foreign competition and geopolitical events. Fortunately, there’s Avantis -- today’s most effective enterprise asset management solution that can reduce the risk of implementation with pre-defined work processes and best practices. One specifically tailored to help chemical producers do more with less."

Enviro-Bricks - "With the solid look of a brick home, and the environmentally responsible aspect of mass recycling, Enviro-Bricks provide the answer to a very critical worldwide need." R40 insulation.

Flame Resistant Polycarbonate from Fly Ash - NEC Corporation has developed a low energy consuming method of manufacturing a flame resistant polycarbonate using the by product of thermal power plants. (PhysOrg; Nov. 12, 2004)

Nuclear Waste to Energy

Cleaning Uranium Waste with Bacteria - U.S. researchers have discovered that some common bacteria (Shewanella) can convert deadly heavy metal into less threatening nano-spheres; and that these bacteria can convert soluble radioactive uranium into a non-toxic solid form called uraninite. (Pacific Northwest National Laboratories; Aug. 7, 2006) (See [1] discussion)

Plastics

Cardboard

Waste to Energy > Ethanol > Companies Transform Scrap Cardboard Into Ethanol Fuel - A new partnership between a paperboard mill and a biofuel producer is now producing ethanol fuel from scrap cardboard fiber, including the 5% portion that usually enters the waste stream. The cardboard ethanol is expected to emit 80% less carbon emissions than regular gasoline. (Inhabitat; May 31, 2010)

Refinery Flaring

Making Sour Gas Into Sweet Energy - Microturbines were the perfect choice for Amerada Hess’ Newburg oil field, largely because the small engines boast a higher sulfur tolerance than do reciprocating engines and reduced total emissions from flaring operations at the field by an average of 75%. (Distributed Energy; May/June 2008)

IBM Pioneers Process to Turn Waste into Solar Energy - IBM has developed a new semiconductor wafer reclamation process that uses a specialized pattern removal technique to repurpose scrap semiconductor wafers to a form used to manufacture silicon-based solar panels. (PhysOrg; Oct. 30, 2007)

Research & Development

Trash-fed generator deployed in Iraq - The U.S. Army is testing two prototype generators in Iraq that run on garbage, rather than diesel fuel. The Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery (TGER, pronounced "tiger"), was co-developed with Purdue University and deployed in May at Victory Base camp in Baghdad, where it will be tested until August 2008. (CNet News; June 19, 2008)

US Military Investigating Fuel from Waste - Diversified Energy and Velocys are working together on a portable system that converts coal, natural gas, and biomass into diesel and jet fuel. The military could use the system to convert waste created at military bases--food scraps, paper, wood--into a fuel for military jets and vehicles.

Waste Water Plus Bacteria Make Hydrogen Fuel - Bacteria that feed on vinegar and waste water zapped with a shot of electricity could produce a clean hydrogen fuel to power vehicles that now run on petroleum. These microbial fuel cells can turn almost any biodegradable organic material into zero-emission hydrogen gas fuel.

Reincarnated material turns waste heat into power - A major boost in the effectiveness of a material that transforms waste heat into electricity could significantly boost energy efficiency in anything from air conditioners to car engines. It is the first major improvement in such "thermoelectric" materials in 50 years, say researchers. (New Scientist; Mar. 20, 2008)

Biofuels from Wood Chips - Three University of California campuses and West Biofuels LLC, will develop a prototype research reactor to make biofuels without food crops or microbial fermentation. It will use steam, sand and catalysts to efficiently convert forest, urban, and agricultural “cellulosic�? wastes into alcohol that can be used as a gasoline additive. (PhysOrg; Jun. 12, 2007)

More

If you know of a resource that is not included in the above site, feel free to post it here. (Click on the "edit" button next to the heading where you want to insert content.)

ASTM D6866 - This method, which is an industrial application of radiocarbon dating, measures the biogenic fraction of waste-derived fuel combustion emissions. Through ASTM D6866, companies that combust municipal solid waste, tires, and other waste materials can determine the biomass fraction of the waste.

Bios Fuel > Diesel Drives 3000 km on Water and Waste Oil - Bios Fuel Corporation of New Zealand drove a Toyota Landcruiser across the Australian Desert from Darwin to Adelaide, running a virtually unmodified diesel engine on 40% Water and 60% Waste Mineral oil as part of the Greenfleet Class of the Panasonic World Solar Challenge. (PESN; Nov. 7, 2007)

Whaste Technology - The REFLOW process accepts a stream containing organic materials, such as municipal liquid waste or industrial and agricultural streams and converts it into a renewable energy source. It can be used as a solid fuel or, with additional processing converted into a synthetic gas or liquid fuel. Only 20% to 30% of the energy produced is required to drive the process.

Butanol via Gasification - Energy Quest announced plans to produce butanol via gasification and catalytic conversion of coal and waste biomass, using its fluidized bed gasifier and PyStR (Pyrolysis Steam Reforming) process. Butanol is an alcohol with advantages over ethanol, that can be used in unmodified gas engines. (Green Car Congress; Jun. 11, 2007)

QuestAir Makes First Sale into European Biogas Market - QuestAir Technologies has received an order for a pressure swing adsorption system to recover pipeline grade methane from biogas generated by the anaerobic digestion of organic wastes. There is growing interest across the EU in the use of renewable methane to replace imported natural gas and CNG transportation fuel. (Green Car Congress; January 24, 2007)

Scientists develop portable generator that turns trash into electricity - A group of scientists have created a portable refinery that efficiently converts food, paper and plastic trash into electricity. The machine, designed for the U.S. military, would allow soldiers in the field to convert waste into power and could have widespread civilian applications in the future. (PESN; Feb. 4, 2007)

Ozmotech - ThermoFuel technology recovers synthetic diesel fuel from waste plastic for less than 30 cents per litre. Already in operation in Japan for power generators, the new process produces a superior quality road fuel suitable for all types of diesel engines. European contracts have been signed with Ozmo Energy, Cynar and EnvoSmart.

Trash to fuel gets 2nd shot - The KDV-500 catalytic pressureless depolymerization technology by Germany's AlphaKat is claimed to turn trash into diesel fuel in 3 minutes. It uses catalysts in crystallic form in a high speed turbulence system with a production cost of 0.23 €/l. (WyomingNews; Feb. 10, 2007)

Poo Power : N-Viro Fuel Tested in Coal-Fired Plant - N-Viro International successfully tested a blend of coal and N-Viro Fuel at a major power generation facility. N-Viro Fuel is a biomass fuel that has physical and chemical characteristics similar to coal. It is created from municipal waste or manure utilizing alkaline stabilization and mechanical drying. (Water and Wastewater.com; Mar. 8, 2007) (Thanks Keelynet)

Bio-Petrol.com - Developing a process of low temperature thermochemical conversion of municipal sewage sludge into oil. It can also process agri-wastes, bagasse, pulp and paper residues, tannery sludge and other end-of-life products such as plastics, tires and the organics in municipal solid waste.

Enerkem - Enerkem's technology enables the chemical recycling of waste into high value, market-ready fuels and chemicals such as methanol, ethanol and synthetic diesel. Gasification is conducted using air or oxygen as partial oxidation agent for the desired synthetic gas composition.

Quadrise Canada - an alternative liquid fuel system called MSAR™ Multiphase Superfine Atomized Residue, which can be burned as an efficient energy source in many industrial applications. Uses bitumen and heavy residue feedstock. Ideal disposal method for refinery residue products.

GreenFuel Technologies Emissions-to-Biofuels™ (E2B™) process harnesses photosynthesis to grow algae, capture CO2 and produce high-energy biomass. Retrofitting fossil-fired power plants and other anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide, the algae can be economically converted to solid fuel, methane, or liquid transportation fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol.

Xethanol uses locally available biomass rather than corn as the primary raw material for ethanol production. Biomass is organic waste material and includes everything from wood chips and yard waste, to corn stover and municipal solid waste.

Eprida process can operate at small scale, converting waste biomass into fuel and fertilizer. The diesel produced will ultimately be more valuable than ethanol or methanol, and the Eprida process can convert woody plant materials that cannot be cost effectively fermented.

DynaMotive is commercializing a "fast pyrolysis" process that converts forest and agricultural residue (including bark) into liquid BioOil and char. BioOil is a clean burning fuel that will initially be used in stationary gas turbines and diesel engines in the forest industry. The char is a high BTU (heating value) solid fuel that can be used in kilns, boilers and the briquette industry.

Beijing Roy Environment Technology - Royco manufactures a reactor unit (EZ-Oil Generator) for the conversion of waste plastics and waste oil into high grade petroleum products, and very soon into electricity (EZ-PowerGen in R&D now). The system utilizes Far Infrared Inner Heating which dramatically reduces costs, virtually eliminates coking and has the most efficient processing record of all other methods.

ForeverGreen Enterprises - We manufacture Green Hydrogen™ using waste materials as feed stocks. At the core of the Progressive Molecular Dissociation™ process is a plasma-based system that destroys feed stock materials at the molecular level using a thermal reduction process. It does not involve combustion. Materials are completely and irreversibly destroyed at the molecular level.

Kompogas - To produce energy from yard and kitchen waste, biogenous waste is first freed of foreign matter and then fed to the fermenter. In the entirely enclosed reactor operating according to the anaerobic principle (with absence of oxygen), microorganisms transform the organic substance present in the material into compost and biogas.

Nova Fuels - Utilizing a process of gasification, Nova Fuels can ease disposal problems by using what are often problematic waste streams, such as municipal solid waste (presorted), green waste, agricultural and forest byproducts, while generating a renewable supply of fuel alcohols.

Plastic Advanced Recycling Corporation - PARC is an Illinois Corporation that owns the USA and international patent rights for a catalytic process that turns waste plastic into hydrocarbon fuel, namely gasoline and diesel at an 80% conversion ratio. This is a proven technology with three processing plants currently operating for the last 10 years in the Peoples Republic of China.

DiNano Ecotechnology - DiNano Thermolyte® (pat pending) Process of Converting Carbon based material to Gas and Petroleum. Unique system is capable of processing simultaneously most carbon based materials, such as coal, lignite, used tires, biomass, used oils of any description, Municipal Solid waste (presorted to remove ceramics, glass, batteries, steel), hospital waste (with special treatment) and convert them to crude oil which is then refined to diesel, with high yield and efficiency.

Capstone MicroTurbine - As waste biodegrades at landfills, sewage treatment plants, livestock farms and food waste processing facilities, methane and other toxic gases are formed. Most sites flare those gases or let them vent into the air. Capstone MicroTurbines are turning that source of pollution into clean, renewable energy, to cut or virtually eliminate your facility’s power bills.

Redwood Rubber - Has developed a chemical free ultrasonic process that can recycle used tires into devulcanized rubber as a lower cost substitute for virgin rubber. The Redwood recycling and remolding process consumes a fraction of the energy needed to produce synthetic rubber from raw materials and drastically lowers waste disposal needs.

Agri-Therm - Portable and stationary equipment for producing BIO-oils and products from agricultural residues, wastes and transition crops using "fast pyrolysis" by exposure to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. The process produces gases, liquids and solids from a mobile pyrolysis plant that can be transported to the source of the waste product.

ThermoEnergy - Converting sewage sludge to a renewable high-energy fuel, and enabling the conversion of coal and other hydrocarbon fuels into energy with zero air emissions. The ThermoEnergy Integrated Power System combines the combustion of carbonaceous fuels with recovery of by-products by pressurizing the entire combustion system to enable the use of gas-to-liquid steam-hydroscrubbing.

BioEnergy Partners - Biomass will be efficiently converted into biofuel using pyrolysis technology, from paper, wood and Municipal wastes, sludge from water treatment plants, animal wastes and agricultural wastes remaining after harvests.

Creative Energy Systems - Sewage and Landfill Clean-up with Energy Production; isolation of elements for recycling. Super-clean tire burner prototype operated 1 year. Full municipal waste and sewage to energy system has not yet to be assembled. Includes plasma technology.

Ethanol from Garbage and Old Tires - Tubes packed with bundles of white fibers are the core of a bioreactor, which is the heart of a new technology that Coskata claims combine thermochemical and biological approaches to make ethanol out of wood chips, household garbage, grass, and old tires--indeed, just about any organic material. (MIT Technology Review; March/April 2008)

Tire Recycling Breakthrough - Delta Energy's DEPolymerization™ process takes one of the world's biggest pollution problems - discarded tires - and turns them into usable fuel, made possible by a secret chemical compound. 99% of the original tire is turned into something useful, from natural gas to diesel fuel to carbon that can be reused in the rubber and plastics industry. (KXNet.com; Nov. 12, 2007)

[TirelessTech.com] - Non-combustive process recycles tires back to raw commodities such as carbon black, hydrogen, methane and a very fine crude oil. No emissions. Can also recycle medical waste or anything that is carbon based. In process of securing final investments and licensing rights. (Tipped anonymously at ZPEnergy by nephew of inventor)

Download (13 mb; mp3) - Paul Pabor, VP of Renewable Energy, Waste Management, the company that comes around to haul off garbage, is increasingly turning some of that garbage into energy -- enough to power over one million homes -- the equivalent of 14 million barrels of oil per year or 3.6 million tons of coal. And the company has a goal to double that amount to 2 million homes by 2020. (Dec. 10, 2007)

Download (13 mb; mp3) - Tom Beck, CEO of SHEC Labs talks about how his company is in process of installing their first commercial facility in Regina, SK Canada that will take the methane from the landfill and convert it to hydrogen using solar power, eliminating the methane by producing a valuable fuel. (Nov. 26, 2007)

Articles

Trends > Free Energy / Waste to Energy / Pollution > The Ramifications of Free Energy - Cheap fossil fuels have enabled the rapid expansion of human life; but what happens when resources run out? Free energy prolongs things and reverses some negative trends, but more thought needs to be put into considering long term trends and how to mitigate negative impact. (Cold Fusion Now; September 17, 2011)

Energy That Cleans Up - A fuel cell fueled by microbes in wastewater also cleans the water. (MIT Technology Review; Mar. 22, 2004)

Power Proposal Stinks - "Poo power" could soon be used to light up London's Science Museum as bosses consider recycling the contents of its loos. (Sky News; July 15, 2004)

Japan facility powers homes and melts snow with kitchen garbage - SUNAGAWA, Hokkaido (Kyodo) A garbage-processing center in Japan gets the electricity it needs to operate all year round from kitchen waste, and can process 10 tons of refuse per day. The heat produced at Clean Plaza Kurukuru can also melt the snow on the city's streets during winter. (Japan Times, Sept. 10, 2004)

Entrepreneurs

Turning Garbage into Gold - Entrepreneurs are creating companies that exploit the creative opportunities in other people's junk, sparing the environment in the process. The article looks at green entrepreneurship in general and profiles some specific companies, whose products range from recycled printer cartridges to rubber sidewalks. (Business Week; August 17, 2006) (See Slashdot discussion)

EntropicEnergy.com - Canadian company (not to be confused with Detroit company by same name) has a patent pending technology that can economically convert waste heat into electricity on a small scale (50 kW to 2 MW).

Government & Politics

Canada joins EPA program - Canada has become the 16th nation to join the U.S. EPA's Methane to Markets Partnership, an international initiative designed to promote the recovery and use of methane, prevent greenhouse gas emissions, and provide sources of clean energy to communities, businesses and industry. (PhysOrg; July 14, 2005)

Patents

Honda patents exhaust-heat-to-energy process - Honda has received a patent on an exhaust heat exchanger that harnesses the heat energy from the exhaust through a thermal exchange, which can then be converted into electrical energy through a thermal electric process or to drive a turbine/generator. (PESWiki; Aug. 21, 2006)

Simpson

On April 4, 2008, the following notice was received:

I represent investment bankers who are interested in financing waste-to-energy projects, primarily focusing on power generation. If you have clients or potential customers in need of financing to close sales, please contact Mike Simpson at: